In what is certain to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" portrays two parallel societies grappling with fears, violence, betrayal and cross-cultural empathy, with a particularly poignant scene portraying a battered iPad (albeit running iOS 6).

The second film in the modern retelling of the cult classic series, "Dawn" portrays a dystopian future where humans struggle for survival as they also clash with an advanced evolutionary adaptation of highly intelligent apes.

It's set in a feral and crumbling future version of San Francisco, imagined into reality by Weta Digital, the visual effects team that also helped breathe immersive realism into a host of mythological characters in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies as well as the simian characters of 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

Last summer at WWDC 2013, The Foundry demonstrated MARI, its 3D modeling software, and announced plans to port the advanced software (which originated at Weta) to Apple's OS X to take advantage of new Mac Pro hardware.

Matt Reeves, the director of Weta's latest "Dawn" production, joined Weta's Joe Letteri and Dan Lemmon along with the new movie's cast members Andy Serkis, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke and Terry Notary in addressing questions about the production after a special media screening. The film opens on July 11.

An iPad offers a gripping performance

At one point in the movie, "Dreyfus," a bereaved widower thrust into a leadership role, played by Gary Oldman, recovers the use of an iPad. Once charged, it pulls up a series of photos portraying the family members he lost in the viral outbreak and chaotic warfare that establish the bleak setting of the film.

Incidentally, it wasn't just Oldman's character on screen that interacts with iOS. In front of the media, Oldman (along with other cast members) took out an iPhone 5s and placed it on the table, face down and Apple logo up, during the question and answer session.

Oldman has famously appeared in advertisements for the Android-based HTC M8 phone, telling TV audiences (literally) "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah" before adding, "It doesn't matter what I say, because the new HTC is designed for people who form their own opinions. So go on then, ask the Internet."

.@GaryOldman says to ask the Internet about whether to get an #HTC One but brought his black iPhone 5s and laid it on the table logo side up

The apparent inability of HTC's endorsement dollars (reportedly in the millions) to "form" Oldman's own opinion on the most desirable smartphone was embarrassingly similar to a series of parallel situations involving Samsung, where various athletes and celebrities have dropped sponsored Android devices for an iPhone shortly after getting paid.

On the big screen, the emotionally charged, tear jerking scene where Oldman flips through family photos on an iPad might also raise eyebrows among certain tech nerds who are aware that just a few months after Apple released iOS 7 last fall, more than 89 percent of all Apple devices had applied the update.

iOS 7 is readily apparent because it replaces iOS' bevels and drop shadows that first debuted on the original iPhone in 2007 with a clean new look featuring Jony Ive's design themes of "deference, clarity and depth."

Set at least a decade into the future, the appearance of iOS 6 in the new film seems oddly out of place, but of course production of the film began long before the update was released and then rapidly adopted by users in the real world. Set at least a decade into the future, the appearance of iOS 6 in the new film seems oddly out of place

The subtle anachronism of iOS 6 springs from the screen (well, at least for some of us techies) because everything else in the movie, from apes riding on horseback to spectacular battle scenes to the touching interactions visible in the often unspoken communication between characters--many of which are digitally fabricated--are all presented with such immersive and convincing reality that there's little else to distract from one's suspension of disbelief throughout the visually stunning and emotionally gripping blockbuster.

At the media event, AppleInsider was on hand to poise a question to the cast members, and so jumped to ask if they felt challenged to present their characters--members of a society that have been hanging on to a fragile existence in a tattered society for several years--while at the same time appearing beautiful and wearing sharp looking (and freshly laundered) clothing.

Every one of the A-List actors extemporaneously delivered a considered take on how they approached their roles, noting, for example, that one of the themes of the movie explored the efforts by both human and ape societies to "create a culture," with cleanliness being an important part of their efforts to create a viable civilization.

Equally impressive to the acting talent is the engineering work by Weta that embellished scenes with both synthetic characters and--in many cases--seamlessly "blended" portrayals which digitally stitched together performances by actors and their stunt doubles in a boundary-pushing new technical frontier of sophisticated film editing.

Director Matt Reeves detailed how filming the work required multiple passes, including a "plate" reshoot that films the background without actors, along with reference and clean passes to enable subsequent editing to include additional creatures and a transformation of the San Francisco setting.

At one point, Reeves noted that the footage captured over a year of working on various shots built up toward "a huge leap of faith," at times creating challenges where he "wasn't sure if the movie was going to work."

Weta technology provided advanced solutions to artistic problems, adapting what was formerly considered simple "motion capture" into modern "motion performance," where the emotionally expressive facial cues and body movements of an actor are mapped onto the design of a fictional character and reflected in their very different physical structure, right down to the hairs making up the apes' fur.

As Weta's Letteri noted, the new movie is "by far the most challenging performance capture we've ever done." Audiences will have an opportunity to experience the new film the weekend after next when it opens in the U.S. on July 11.

The original Planet of the Apes was released in 2011. Assuming it took place contemporaneously, and since society ends at the end of the movie, the question isn't why the iPad didn't have iOS 7, it's why it didn't have iOS 5.

Do you really think that a 5-10 minute spot in a movie is worthy of a 20-paragraph article pimping said movie Daniel or are you just rushing to garner page-clicks when you really have nothing to say?

Do you think there's some value in registering your lack of respect for every article I write? What comment of value have you contributed recently? Why do you waste your life firing off mean spirited snipes of zero value or insight?

The article isn't about an iPad appearing in a film. It's about the intersection of art and technology.

As an aside, it also mentions iOS 6 anachronistically appearing onscreen in the "future" and the fact that HTC's primary prime time celebrity endorsement actually uses an iPhone.

Quote;
"Set at least a decade into the future, the appearance of iOS 6 in the new film seems oddly out of place"

It is actually IOS 12. Apple realized their mistake a few years after IOS 7, apologized and went back to the look and feel of IOS 6. Kind of how everyone looks back at the styles of the 80's and say "what were we thinking?"

I love the Planet of the Apes, at least the original movies from the sixties and seventies, I'm not as big of a fan of the newer movies, hopefully this one will be good. The worst one made was probably the Tim Burton version, in my opinion. It wasn't epic at all. I'd rather watch the tv series from the seventies instead of any of the newer movies that have been made.

If a Planet of the Apes movie were to be realistic, and if the Apes have the most advanced society, then the apes should be using iPhones and if the humans are primitive, then the humans obviously need to be using Android.

The current world kind of reminds me of Planet of the Apes, a lot of things are backwards and upside down. I also believe that apes could do a better job than many human politicians who are currently in charge. They definitely couldn't do any worse.

No, we are not on iOS7. Our society was destroyed before iOS7 was made available. The release of a viral-based experimental drug caused apes to become super-intelligent, after which they rose up against humans. The drug, which was intended as a cure for Alzheimer's and other diseases of the brain, turned out to be deadly to humans.

If you can't understand the concept of alternative timelines, then much of modern science fiction will be inaccessible to you. For example, The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, takes place in a Victorian Britain where massive social and technological change has occurred after inventor Charles Babbage succeeded in building a working mechanical computer. If you just keep saying "but Charles Babbage never made a working mechanical computer, " then put down the novel and watch another monster truck show or Fast & Furious sequel on DVD.

Anyway, the point is that there is a weird bullying thing going on with DED's work here.

It's just the tech-geek version of Mean Girls.

Give some people anonymity and a discussion forum devolves into an online equivalent to the Lord of the Flies, regressing into savagery and bullying. I once did a little online detective work and phoned a very surprised online bully at home, asking for him by name. You would have been amazed at the transformation from online bully to scared, whimpering candy-ass.

I don't understand why people choose to read content every day that they obviously despise, and then go to the effort of making negative comments on it. I suppose the obvious answer is they get some demented pleasure from trolling.

I started frequenting AI because I got tired of reading "Why I am leaving Apple for Android" articles on other "Apple" news sites. I did not choose to linger on those sites making negative comments every day. Anyway, keep up the good work AI staff.

I love the Planet of the Apes, at least the original movies from the sixties and seventies, I'm not as big of a fan of the newer movies, hopefully this one will be good. The worst one made was probably the Tim Burton version, in my opinion. It wasn't epic at all. I'd rather watch the tv series from the seventies instead of any of the newer movies that have been made.

If a Planet of the Apes movie were to be realistic, and if the Apes have the most advanced society, then the apes should be using iPhones and if the humans are primitive, then the humans obviously need to be using Android.

The current world kind of reminds me of Planet of the Apes, a lot of things are backwards and upside down. I also believe that apes could do a better job than many human politicians who are currently in charge. They definitely couldn't do any worse.

You can say that again. I love the originals, the Burton one reminds me of Blackberry - pure shit, and the newer ones are lacking something imo, just not sure what it is.

Last summer at WWDC 2013, The Foundry demonstrated MARI, its 3D modeling software, and announced plans to port the advanced software (which originated at Weta) to Apple's OS X to take advantage of new Mac Pro hardware.

The Foundry also sells Nuke, which is developed by some of the team behind Shake. There's a video here from The Foundry on the Planet of the Apes compositing and it's clear to see how much work goes into just one part of one scene, it doesn't even cover asset creation:

"Our fur and hair grooming system is called Barbershop, and it plugs into Maya and Renderman. It was written over the last several years by Alasdair Coull and a team of 5 other programmers, with input from Marco Revelant and our Modeling department. Barbershop is a “brush” based modeling tool that allows artists to manipulate a pelt of fur while visualizing and sculpting every strand of hair that will make it to the render. We also simulated wind and inertial dynamics, especially for the big orangutan Maurice, who had matted, dreadlock-like clumps of fur on his arms and legs."

I think it's pretty incredible to see these results coming from the hardware and software developments over the years when looking back at computers just 30 years ago that could do little more than process text. That kind of innovation has come from all sorts of people and Apple and the people associated with Apple played a large role in making it happen.